Video push to woo students from overseas

LAUNCESTON College has started producing a series of videos for an international social media audience to address the declining number of overseas students heading to the North.

Only a few years ago, the college had as many as 30 international students but this year that had dropped to just eight.

Principal Keith Wenn said international students were important to both the college and the community and he did not want to see numbers decline further.

"I think the university is doing fine but certainly the government colleges are not seeing anywhere near the numbers we used to have before," Mr Wenn said.

He said international students added to the cultural richness of the city and it was important it was recognised and built on.

Mr Wenn said interstate and international education was either in the top three or top five of export earners worth hundreds of millions of dollars and yet it continued to be overlooked. He said the financial input to the region had been measured at $25,000 a year.

International students also brought tourism to the city with visiting family and friends.

Mr Wenn said there had been talks with Northern police commander Richard Cowling about ways to further ensure Launceston was seen as a safe, welcoming and desirable city to live and study.

He said the campaign would be bilingual and focused at students in South-East Asia as well as Korea, China and Japan.